SOCIAL CONFLICT IN THE NOVELS

OF

MARIANO AZUELA

A Thesis

Presented to the Department of Foreign Languages

Kanzas State Teachers College

Empori a, Kans as

In Partial Fulfillment of ~rie Bequirements for the Degree

Master of Science

by

James M. =Murillo August 1969 - I

For Major

Approved For Graduate Council 288303\ ~~ TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. INTRODU CTION ...... 1 Aspects that grew out of the social

conflict of Mexico. 2

II. AUTHOR'S BIOGRAPHY. 6

III. PRE-REVOLUTIONARY MEXICO . . 8

Novels of the pre-revolutionary period •• 9

Maria Luisa . . . 9

Mala yerba • 10

Sin ~ 18

IV. THE MEXICAN REVOLUTION • • 21

Novels and short stories of the Mexican

Revolution . . . • • 22 Andres Perez, maderista . 24

Los cacigues Q del llano hermanos, ~.en £.29

Los de aba; 0 •• • • • • • • • • • • • • 34

Las moscas • • • 40

~ tribulaciones ~ ~ familia decente 41

V. POST-REVOLUTIONARY MEXICO • 46

Novels of post-revolutionary Mexico • • 46

La malhora • • • 46

San Gabriel de Valdivias .••••••• 47

VI. CONCLUSIONS •.•••••••••••••••• 49

BIBLIOGRAPHY ...•.•••••••••••••••• 52 CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

When Dr. Mariano Azuela died in Mexico City in 1952,

Spanish America lost one of its most esteemed novelists of the century. Dr. Azue1a is the author of a universally recognized masterpiece, Los ~ abajo. He was born in Lagos de Moreno,

Ja1isco, on January 1, 1873. Here he learned about the life of the country and small town which was to be the setting for many of his novels. He pursued the study of medicine in Guada­

1ajara and in 1899 began his practice in his native city of

Lagos. In 1900 he married Carmen Rivera, niece of Agust1n

Rivera, priest and historian of Lagos. Five sons and five daughters were bnrn to this union. Not one of the children followed in the father's footsteps either in medicine or in writing.

Azue1a wrote from his own experiences or from obser­ vat ions beginning with a series of sketches of the life of a seminary student in the provinces. In his first literary ef­ fort he reveals interests and trends that will characterize all of his future writings: an interest in types, especially in the poor and unfortunate, and, in character study. Social conflict is his main theme. He was chiefly con­ cerned with the problems and conduct of the people. In this 2 study, some of the aspects that grew out of the social conflict during Mexico's critical period will be examined= lust, sa­ vagery, and hypocrisy. Since Azue1a had a first-hand contact with different types which he observed in real life and the

Revolution, he was able to clearly reveal to us the life of his country. We shall see how he treats these injustices as they existed before, during, and after the Revolution, and whether he feels there is hppe for Mexico.

His concern was already evidenced in his earliest 1it­ erary efforts, for he had already begun to think about the problems of Mexico: political "bossism," social and economic domination of the peon by landowner, religious bigotry, and intolerance. Th~re is a touch of humor and of satire. Also, there is a touch of pessimism and fatalism in most of his novels. He directed his animosity against corrupt men rather than against the ideas of the Revo1ution. 1 This is known from short stories written in the first years .of the century and from the first three full-length nove18~ Marta Luisa, Los fracasados, and Mala yerba.

Then came the Revolution. Azue1a boldly struck out at those responsible for plunging his country into a class war without any clearly defined program of social reform. In a very short while, he saw quite a bit of gun-waving, proc1aim­

1Robert E. Luckey, "Mariano Azue1a," Books Abroad, (Norman, Oklahoma, Autumn, 1953), p. 370. 3 ing of loyalties, and political chicanery. Nauseated by the insincerity about him, he wrote a novel, a hard, nasty novel about a cynical and spineless turncoat in Andres Perez, made­ rista, his first novel of the Revolution. Although artistic­ ally an inferior work, idealogically it is considered one of his most significant novels. He attacks the type that he later characterized as "las moscas" in the novel by that name.

Because of them, Mexico would continue to suffer from her age- old wounds: a feudal land system, military dictatorship, a spineless abject press and intellectual class. Azuela be­ lieved that revolution was sometimes necessary for the sake of evolution. He believed, however, that in itself, revolution did no real good. Azuela's views with regard to the futility of revolutions are expressed in the words of Andres Perez:

Los pueblos han derramado siempre su sangre por arrancarse de sus carnes a los vampiros que los aniquilan, pero no han conseguido jamas sino substituir a unos vampiros por otros vampiros. 2

In other words, revolution usually changes only oppressors. In

spite of this, Azuela believed that the Mexican Revolution did

arouse the people. In Bernard M. Dulsey's words, "Azuela has

hope for the future of Mexico and thinks that the revolution did

awaken the people. This awakening, Azuela believes, is the

2Mariano Azuela, Andres Perez, maderista y otras novelas (Mexico: Ediciones Botas, 1945), p. 90. 4

first step toward the redemption of his country."3

One novel appeared between Andres Perez, maderista and

Los ~ abajo. It is Los cacigues, written in Lagos in 1914 under the Huerta domination and published in 1917, after Azuela had returned to Mexico from his brief exile. In Los ~ abajo he describes the life of a soldier who fights for personal

revenge and booty, without any clear knowledge of the Revo1u­

tion as a whole.

Las moscas captures "the hour of fear" following Villa's

defeat at Celaya at the hands of Obregon. On rereading the

book years later, Azue1a concluded that he had been overly

cruel to them, for they, too, were victims. Las tribu1aciones

~ una familia decente completed the cycle of novels about the

Revolution. He was able to show us a clear picture of the

great struggle. His humor boils over most of all on the jac­

ka1s and stool pigeons in the pay of the caciques. In Las mos­

cas, instead of giving us descriptions of battles, he was con­

tent with showing us the effects the Revolution had upon the

cowards and the shameless opportunists. These opportunists

had once been servants of D1az, then of Madero, later, and fi­

na11y of Villa. It did not matter as long as they lived and

dressed well.

In post-revolutionary Mexico, Azue1a had ample oppor­

3Bernard M. Du1sey, "Mexican Revolution as mirrored in the Novels of Azuela, "Modern Language Journal, XXXV (May, 1951), p. 386. 5 tunity to study and witness at first hand the many unfortunate people whose misery and pleading fell on unsympathetic ears, as is expressed in La malhora. He condemns the cold objec­ tivity of the courts, the commercialiam of the medical pro­ fession and satirizes the smug morality of those who have never experienced economic want. CHAPTER II

AUTHOR'S BIOGRAPHY

The Revolution of 1910 found Azuela in Lagos. He had opposed the Porfirio Diaz regime from his student days in Gua­ dalajara. He was a follower of Madero from the time Madero entered the Mexican revolutionary scene. He had been under suspicion by Diaz officials because of certain writings and because of his open opposition to the corruptness of the re­ gime. With the triumph of the Madero movement in 1911, Azuela was appointed to minor political offices in his home district, but he soon gave them up, convinced that the state authorities under whom he worked were opportunists. During the reaction­ ary Huerta domination of 1913-1914, Azuela lived under strict and nerve-racking surveillance. He became the director of pub­ lic education for the state of Jalisco in 1914.

Villa and Carranza went separate ways in 1915, and Azuela joined the Villa group under Julian Medina as chief of the med­ ical service. He left his family in Lagos and joined the Me­ dina band on marches and counter-marches. He moved northward through Chihuahua with a contingent of wounded after the crush­ ing defeat of Villa at Celaya on April 16, 1915. It was during this flight that Azuela took notes and planned his best-known novel, Los de abajo. He was finally forced across the border to El Paso, Texas, along with other Villa men. He wrote the novel there and read it to a group of compatriots. It was pub­ 7 lished and first appeared in print as a serial in the Spanish newspaper, "El Paso del Norte," from October to December of

1915.

Early in 1919 A.u~la returned tg guadalajara, add chat same year he moved his family to Mexico City, where they lived the rest of their lives. While exercising his professions of medicine and writing, he continued to come in daily contact with the poor to help them. Theseexperiences also helped him to make the setting and characters of his novels vivid and realistic. He also obtained first-hand information about the treatment of the people by the courts where he served as a juryman in 1921 and saw much of the sufferings of the poor in a public medical clinic in 1922.

In 1950, the government gave Azuela Mexico's highest award for letters, the "Premio Nacional de Literatura," in rec­ ognition of his literary achievements. His life spanned the stormy years of the dissolution of the Old Regime and the Revo­ lution. He was one of the many thoughtful men who had re­ belled against the dictatorship of Porfirio Diaz and who looked to Francisco Madero as the prophet of a new Mexico, a M~xico of freedom and democracy. CHAPTER III

PRE-REVOLUTIONARY MEXICO

MAriano Azuela was able to recognize the problems of his people very early in life, his main concern being that for the poor and unfortunate. Occurrences of Azuela's youth open­ ed his eyes to the hard conditions of life around him. One instance was the execution of don Pepe for having killed an­ other man to whom he owed a debt he could not pay. The whole affair, particularly the circumstances of the night before the execution and the sound of the shots at dawn, aroused in Azuela such sensations of distress and dismay that he became ill.

Another dramatic recollection grew out of a demand made of his father for 500 pesos by one of the bold bandits threatening the security of the region. A brave employee offered to meet the bandit and, instead of paying him, struck him on the head.

The ridicule suffered by the bandit for his cowardice led

Azuela to conclude that a valiant death would have been pre­ ferable.

Azuela was becoming conscious of the basic principles that guided his career, particularly concern for the truth.

On returning to Lagos to take up his medical practice, Azuela found that his long absence, interrupted only by vacations, had changed his relationships with those whom he thought he had well known. This did not apply, however, to his child­ hood sweetheart, Carmen Rivera, whom he married. 9

Of the many problems of society that Azuela dealt with in his novels were those of lust, savagery, and hypocrisy.

These injustices moved him to write about and criticize and condemn them. In Azuela's Maria Luisa and Mala yerba, is found his idea of an inescapable heredity which may cause degeneracy, a strong moralizing tendency which is usually brought out by satire. Although problems of concern such as alcoholism, sick­ ness, poverty, abandonment and death are evident in earlier novels, t~ey appear stronger in later works, particularly in

those of the Revolution, and also in some works in post-revolu­

tionary Mexico.

Maria Luisa, in the novel by that same name becomes

involved with Pancho, a medical student. She is unable to re­

sist him since she truly loves him and never intended to deceive him. After eventual abandonment, feeling disgraced, she turns

to alcoholism for consolation and ends up in prostitution. She becomes very ill and lies, friendless and unrecognized by Pancho,

in the hospital where he is called to pronounce her dead. Pancho

is an example of the lust portrayed by many of Azuela's char­

acters. Although he did like Maria Luisa very much,he had

no intentions of marrying her or of becoming involved in any

future resp~nsibility.l

Azuela considered his second novel,Los fracasados, in

lMariano Azuela, Maria Luisa (Mexico: Ediciones Botas, 1938), p. 16. 10 many ways a form of reporting of the disposition of the middle classes to sacrifice every ideal in order to gain wealth and power. In it he shows the ruthless drive of the middle class to enrich itself without regard for morality or suffering of the poor and in the process to reveal the disillusionment of an idealist in the midst of a social crisis in a provincial town. The ~lamos of the story is the author's own native city of Lagos, and Azuela directs his satire against the ambitious and unscrupulous politicians he knew personally; against the conservative, hypocritical upper classes; and against the in­ fluence of the church. Against these age-old forces working to preserve the status ~ of the D1az regime, the young law­ yer Resendez, fresh from his studies in the capital, meets only with frustration. And Consuelo, loved by the frustrated idealist for her intelligence and for the freshness and joy of her youth, is also abused and driven out by these same deadening forces.

Like its predecessor, Mala yerba is an implicit protest against the desperate sufferings of the humble; a cry against oppression by the caciques and landowners, strongly emphasized later, especially in the novel Los caciques. Mala yerba is a novel of national customs, a novel of rural Mexico in the days of Porfirio D1az. Don Julian Andrade, "tierno vastago de una raza de chacales, de ladrones, de bandidos de camino real," is the degenerate proprietor of the vast hacienda of San Pedro de las Gallinas, who, like the other hacendados of his day, rules supreme and unmolested by the law. On the other hand, 11 he is protected by the law in his dastardly work as oppressor and assassin of the long-suffering peons whose life and honor are of no concern to him as long as his appetites are sat is­ fied. Marcela, beautiful daughter of Pablo Fuentes, dean of the servants of the farms, becomes the prey of don Julian's sexual appetite. She is described as a working woman of the hacienda, illiterate, humble, and oppressed, both economically and physically. She sometimes ridicules her master but event­ ua11y this type of woman would accept her fate. There was jealousy among the women, and, as described in Chapter III, they were not concerned about being morally lax if they could gain materially by it: Marcela is finally the victim of don

Julian's mad jealousy when he plunges into her heart the very dagger with which she hoped to rid herself of him. And rural justice decrees, in the face of irreputab1e evidence, that there is a greater crime than this of killing a mere woman of the people, that of defaming the character of a wealthy hacen­ dado.

The brutal conduct of the hacendado is more strongly brought out in Mala yerba. The assassins of Marcela's lovers, because she did have a great appeal for men,were arranged with some peon,and he in turn was also killed so that there would be no witnesses. In one instance, after the assassin of a peon,

Marcelino instructs Gertrudis, another peon, to testify in

2Robert E. Luckey, "Mariano Azue1a as Thinker and Writer" (unpublished Ph. D. Dissertation, Stanford University, 1951), p. 99. 12 court that he had died of fever. 3

One does not feel sympathy for either the Andrade fam­ i1y or f or peons.' They are bo th miserab 1e, disgraced and cow­ ards. In Azuela's words: "son una raza enferma de siglos de humi11acion y de amargura.,,4 Although the peons of the hacien­ das did suffer from poverty, mistreatment and abuse by the rich hacendados, they, too, were to be considered shameless in their behavior. Just as their patrones deceived them, they, also behaved likewise. When someone was killed and was being mourned, the peons were really feigning since they had their minds on better things:

Los peones rezaban por e1 alma del difunto; pero con pensamiento distra1do: e1 matrimonio a vue1ta de pizcas, e1 marrano para engorda, 1a compra anhe1ada del caballo 0 del borrico, 1a apuesta para las carreras del borrico, 1a apuesta para las carreras del ano nuevo: todo 10 que se pod1a sonar de una prospera cosecha. 5

Azue1a believed that the whole town was suffering from the same diseases, the same vices. The Andrade family and the peones who live and work are the protagonists. The tyranny and oppression of the two, respectively, are the theme stressed.

Julian's brutal conduct is consistent throughout the story, which shows Azue1a's great concern for this problem.

3Mariano Azue1a, Mala yerba (Mexico: Ediciones Botas, 1945), p. 34.

4F. Rand Morton, Los Nove1istas de 1a Revo1ucion mexi­ ~ (Mexico: Editoria1~ltura, T. G.-,-s-:A., 1949), p. 37.

5Azue1a, Mala yerba, ~. cit., pp. 49-50. 13

One of the most brutal scenes takes place when Julian finally murders Marcela with her own knife. 6 Azuela voices great con­ cern over the behavior of the caciques and the perfect incom­ potence of rural jUNtic•• LACk of concern for the poor and oppressed is described perfectly in a scene after Marcela's death. Although there are various witnesses to the horrible crime, the judge seems to be too preoccupied with other matters to worry about the trial over the death of Marcela, and says to don Petrolino, his assistant:

Pero, dtgame, don Petrolino, lusted quiere hacer de la justicia un juego de muchachos? lCree us ted que se puede proceder por meras conjecturas que son del dominio interno de un particular? Don Petrolino, no se le olvide que hay un deli to muy grave que se llama "de difamacion" y que ese deli to se castiga fuertemente. Don Petrolino, mucho cuidado, que se meta en las once varas de la camisa.

According to these statements, the defamation of the character of the hacendado was a worse sin than murder!

After don Petrolino's repentence and his decision not to get involved further in complicated matters, the judge finish­ es, and again showing no concern says:

Oigame, don Petrolinp, quedese usted acabando de enfriar; yo ya tengo mucho sueno y me voy a acostar. Manana, muy tempranito, me va a ordenar las chivas, y quiero tambien que me saque unos camotes del surco para Marta Engracia. Rasta manana, don Petrolino. 8

6Ibid., p. 255.

7Ibid., p. 261.

8 Ib id., p. 262. 14

The protagonist, don Julian Andrade, who tries to live up to his ancestor's customs, "hombres de pelo en pecho",9 is painted by the author thus: "Era un seco grandullon forrado de iamuza de los pie. a 1a cab.me, d. a1azando bisotillo y ojos dulzones, un tanto afeminados ... como nino mimado a quien sorprenden los mostachos todav1a a las faldas de la nana •.. "lO

But when Marcela appears on the scene, Azuela gives the follow­ ing description of Julian: "a Julian no Ie cab1a el furor en el cuerpo ..•. Sus ojillos azulosos flameaban, un cerco rojizo broto en sus carrillos paliduchos de producto degenerado, po­ drido; y en su rostro se expandieron manchas amoratadas de sangre descompuesta."ll

Marcela's beauty deserves the author's following des­ cription:

El rebozo tornasolado envolv1a·sus redondos hombros y su ancha espalda; la blusa transparente orlada de encajes, dejaba a trechos, desnudos llenos y bronceados, las manos delgadas y nerviosas, el cuello ondulante en suaves estremecimiento, los brazos tersos y bien modelados •.. aquella boca plegada a veces por un gesto de natural coqueter1a, aquella nariz levemente entreabierta y hecha a las tremulaciones del pecado .•• sus ojos matreros que encontraban refugio y simpat1a mal disimulados, tornaronse francamente provocativos.

9J . M. Gonzales de Mendoza, "Prologo," Mala yerba, Mariano Azuela (cuarta edicion; Mexico: Ediciones Botas, 1945), p. 12.

10Azuela, Obras Completas de Mariano Azuela, Volume I primera edicion; Mexico: Fondo de Cultura Economica, 1958), pp. 114-116.

llAzuela, Mala yerba, £E. cit., p. 21. 15

Dio a sus palabras acento dulce en armon1a con su gesto sensual, el movimiento de hombros y caderas y con la suave ondulacion de su pecho. 12

Thus a brief description of our flirtatious Marcela.

tfal'l ~rba must ho Qon.JidQ'rlild' A:&uelQ'. firlJt i.mpor­

tant work and must be classed among the best of his novels.

Melodramatic it is, yes, and none too original in plot, but

it has splendid characterization and a vigorous, artistic por­

trayal of rural customs and types. Somewhat given to over­

drawing his main characters because of the intensity with

which he exposes and condemns the social weaknesses and vices

of the country, Azuela is especially adept in his delineation

of minor types such as Pablo Fuentes, "servidor de los mas

apegados !!. .1:i!. casa" but never so beaten or cowed as not to

speak out boldly against masters, and the local judge, who re­

bukes don Petrolino, his secretary, for wishing to make child's

play of justice by accusing don Julian as the obvious perpe­

trator of Marcela's death without first examining the circum­

stantial evidence that bring him acquittal. Other minor char­

acters of importance are: don Anacleto, drunken uncle of don

Julian, dona Poncianita, the latter's wife, a smart woman who

is always trying to solve family affairs, and "la triste Mari­

ana, que vio agosta~se su juventud en la inutil espera del

amor honesto •.• ,tl3 l 12Ibid ., pp. 49-51. 13Gonzalez de Mendoza, ~. cit., p. 8. 16

The rest of the characters are not independent of the

two protagonists, Ju1i~n and Marcela, with the exception of

Gertrudis, who neither plays the part of a lover of Marcela

nor as a rival of don Julian. There i. dona Marceline, the mother of Julian, who believes that her son can do no wrong.

There are also dona Cuca, Julian's oldest sister and her

daughter Refugita. And there are t1a Me1qu1ades, an ambit­

ious lady who is always seeking favors, and her daughter An­

selma, a girl who also gives in easily to physical love.

In Mala yerba, the action is quickly developed in the

first chapter with the assassination of a vaquero, lover of

Marcela. Later, there are to be other assassinations. Don

Julian is not even brought to court since the only witness to

the crime helps him make fun of the law by lying for him the

next day. Azue1a describes a storm already building up out­

side which can also be described as a preview to the reader

of what is in store throughout the novel. The following des­

cription is given right after the assassination~

La tormenta se cern1a ya en 1a negrura de 1a noche; e1 re1ampago abr1a su bocaza de fuego y con estrepito avanzaba 1a tempestad, desencadenada, por las cimas de los arboles y por las penas de 1a Mesa de San Pedro. 14

Probably Marcela's one true love was Gertrudis, friend and

companion from childhood days. When he proposes marriage to

her, he is shocked to find out that she thinks she is unworthy

of the love of someone as pure as he. She is of the idea that

14Azue1a, Mala yerba, ~. cit., p. 24. 17 in the end, her destiny is to fall prey to the clutches of

Julian.

After the death of Marcela's old father, she leaves the ranch with Mister John, an American engineer, to go to the nearby village of San Francisquito. At the same time, she is doing this to try to sav~ Gertrudis from B woman of her type. _·.t She lives in this situation and hopes that someday her true love, Gertrudis, will come for her. When they do eventually meet again, she gives in to him. Julian, being jealous as he was, arranged for the murder of· .Gertrudis.

The tragic story ends with the persecuted Marcela when she discovers the other assassinations had also been done by

Julian. He takes easy advantage of Marcela's state of mind. He stabs her with her own knife, and the crime goes unpunished, for the judge even fears the power and influence of the hacendados.

We have seen pictures of pre-Revolutionary days in the Mexico of Porfirio Diaz which called for Revolution. When

Azuela wrote this novel on the eve of the Revolution, he shared the simple Mexican's hate for the rich landowner: he is passionately on the side of the exploited classes. Mala yerba superbly reveals the social conflict. The girl stands for her unhappy race; Julian is the symbol of a dying ruling order.

~ yerba, then, is a class-conscious melodrama: but it is much more. It is a portrait of Mexican life, accurate, racy, and true. The reader experiences something of the mysterious soul of the Indian peasant. Yet above all, Mala yerba is a 18 love story.

In theme and manner, Sin amor reverts to those of the pre-Revolutionary period. The satire is more relentless, di­ rected against those whom the growing movement had failed to convert to its cause. It attacks the Mexican bourgeoisie, "la del puro dinero, 1a burguesia brutal y nada mas:'IS whom he characterizes as hypocritical, presumptuous, unprincipled and immoral. Sin amor, published in 1912, is the portrayal of the 1 decadent society of a provincial town in the Diaz era. To him I it was less satisfactory than his works about the poor and disadvantaged, and out of harmony with his normal frankness and spontaneity. Perhaps his being a part of the middle class obscured his vision of it. Azue1a stated that Sin amor, fin­ ished just as Madero's revolt Regan, was the last in his first cycle of novels.

Sin amor, is an imaginary story of a girl who puts off true love for riches and social prestige by marrying Ramon

Torra1ba, a rich, and most sought-after young man in town.

Ana Maria did not love Ramon, although she remained loyal to him. After a few years she lost whatever ideals she might have had and took on the manners and customs of the overbear­ ing Torra1bas.

ISJohn E. Eng1ekirk and L. B. Kidd1e, "Introduction," Los de abajo, Mariano Azue1a (edited with introduction, notes and vocabulary; New York: F. S. Crofts & Co., 1939), p. xix 19

Ana Marra's mother put her efforts into giving her every educational opportunity and getting her accepted by the aristocratic society. Ana Marra returned from the capital after being educated and found with open arms the good 80­ ciety.16

Despues de cuatro meses del advenimiento del primer vastago. Ana Maria estaba en apogeo de vigor y belleza. Esa tarde vestia una falda de lana de color verde olivo. tan ajustada que hacia restallar sus caderas y sus muslos; sus brazos desnudos. muy blancos y sus senos pujantes tras la albura de la blusa de encajes la hacian ten­ tadora. 17

After four years of marriage to Ramon. the image changes:

... Pomposa y frondosa, ha perdido la delicadeza de sus lineas ... Su rostro se funde en una capa homogenea de grasa que le empequenece los ojos y le abulta parpados y carrillos. Aparte cierto aire de infantilismo chocante reproduce con' fidelidad a la buena Lidia •.. r8

True. she was rich. but had become very fat and unattractive.

Azuela presents two contrasting types in Sin ~.

The opposite of Ana Maria is Julia Ponce. ex-sweetheart of

Ramon. She is a girl who always obeys the dictates of her heart. Maria Luisa. after five years is a fat. displeasing

16Mariano Azuela. Sin ~. (segunda edicion; Mexico: Ediciones Botas. 1945). p. 35.

17Mariano Azuela. Obras completas ~ Mariano Azuela (primera edicion; Mexico: Fondo de Cultura Economics. 1958). I. p. 305.

18Ibid .• p. 309. 20 and pretentious lady, and a mother of four children. Julia, having married her cousin, Enrique Ponce, and after losing a fortune to a userer without scruples, reappears after five years. still beautiful, with her romantic husband and a beau· tiful child. It is evident that Azuela wanted to give us a moral example, but the reader may ask why the woman that mar­ ried without love is converted into a fat matron and loses in­ terest while the other lady maintains her beauty and other en­ chantment8~9

19Arturo Torres-R10seco, Grandes Novelistas de la America Hispana (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University-- of California Press, 1941), pp. 33-34. CHAPTER IV

THE MEXICAN REVOLUTION

With the first triumph of the Revolution, Azuela was still not satisfied, for he noticed that in the place of the old Dtaz vices and corruption, other evils had errupted, per­ haps even worse than before. And thus begins Azuela's second cycle of novels.

It is believed that General Medina influenced the fig- ,~ =" ure of Demetrio Macias in Los ~ abajo, since Medina was from the state of Jalisco, also. This thought is expressed in the words of Azuela:

" ... Pero en mi Estado, solo Julian Medina se levanto en armas, muy lejos, en Hostotipaquillo, al sur de Jalisco ..."1

Azuela had observed the military movements and at the same time observed the fortunes gathered by civilians in search for employment, each time better with each new con­ queror in the civil war. Finally, Azuela himself felt the full fury of the Revolution during his flight to El Paso, Tex­ as. But he never sold himself short to any of the politicians.

He continued working for a newspaper and as a doctor, without once losing' the impulse to relate the truth about the R~volution.2

IF. Rand Morton, Los novelistas de la revolucion mexi­ ~ (Mexico: Editorial Cultura, T. G.,-S.~., 1949), p.~

2Jefferson Rea Spell, Contemporary Spanish-American Fiction (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1944), p. 68. 22

With the death of Madero the Revolution was without course or purpose. Pessimism now began to grow in the soul of Azuela and he wrote his first novel dealing directly with the Revolution: Andres Perez, maderista. All in all, it is flooded with deep cynicism and pessimism. In it, Azuela wished to report the situation of some Mexicans during the

~ initial liberation movement of 1911. This novel was pub- ~ .•-, lished in 1911. It has been stated that if Mal~ yerba gives ample reason for the Revolution, Andres Perez, maderista ex­ plains, painfully and realistically, why it failed. And-para­ doxically, a note of humorism appears for the first time and, for the first time, the story is told in the first person.

The "yo" that is speaking, is more than once Azuela himself.

Los cacigues, or del Llano hermanos, ~. en f., Las moscas, and Las tribulaciones --­de una familia decente can also be con­ sidered novels of the Mexican Revolution, since they tell

about the corrupt behavior of the people in a position to pro­

fit by the Revolution. Los cacigues tells about the defeat

of the first idealists during the Madero government, all lib-

erals. In Las tripulaciones de una familia decente, Azuela

descrihes the trials and sufferings of an impoverished family

due to the Revolution of Madero.

The structure of ~ de abajo reflects the scenes and

events of the Revolution 'itself: chaotic, horrifying, violent,

disj ointed. The course of the narrative illustr~tes the fu­ 23 tility of destruction and violence. The humble people caught up by the struggle felt only its force and expressed only its violence; they did not know its direction or purpose.

Azuela and an intimate friend, secretary of the local government agency, turned the official offices into agencies of revolutionary propaganda. His friend lost his position

,'~ and Azuela incurred the antagonism of the local caciquismo! =:~ From that time on, to be a Madero supporter was equivalent to being a criminal. In spite of danger, Azuela and like-minded people formed the nucleus of a .local movement directed against

D1az. They had support of day laborers, small business owners, farm workers, and enthusiastic youths. Similar developments were under way elsewhere. With the news of Madero~s victory, many who had been opponents of his program thought it expedient to proclaim themselves its fervent partisans. Azuela felt a special repugnance for thos maderistas ~ ocasion which he expressed forcefully in his novel, Andres Perez •.maderista.

In response to popular demand following Madero's tri­ umph, Azuela became political chief of Lagos. Holding office did not agree with his temperament and ideas, but he felt it his duty to accept the position, especially when the caciques opposed him. The government had confirmed his selection, but local bosses in their newly assumed roles as maderistas sought

to prevent his taking office. Azuela had to calIon federal soldiers to check thos illegally opposing him. 24

The Madero movement was nearly a fiasco. Soon in­

trigue and factionalism began to undermine the movement, and

the situation in his state was such that Azuela resigned his

post with a vigorous protest against continuing in office by

official mandate when his choice had originally been the ex­

pression of the will of the people.

Deciding to retire to private life and to his medical

practice, he intended to devote his spare hours to writing a

series to be called Cuadros y escenas ~ ~ revolucion. How­

ever, he could not use this title for political and editorial

reasons.

Andres Perez, maderista is Azuela's first novel of the

Revolution. For the first time there is a tone of irony. The

disillusion and sarcasm that he felt are going to be fully ex­

posed in Las moscas and in Los caciques. Andres Perez, made­

rista reflects the spiritual struggle which led him to a deci­

sion, freely taken, to support "the great movement of renova­

tion." He presented an aspect of Madero's downfall showing

that it occurred because his regime "did not have time to ma­

ture in the conscience of the people.,,3 Azuela thought that

Madero's government,. most honest and upright in Mexico's his­

tory, was ineffective through inexperience in dealing with the

wolves of porfirismo.

3Mariano Azuela, "Introduction," Las triblJlaciones de ~ familia decente,edited by Fra'n'ces Kellum Hendricks and . Beatrice Berler (New York: The Macmiilan Co.,.1966), p. i6. 25

Andr~s P~rez» forced by circumstances to become a "ma­

der~sta de ocasion»" limps confusedly through the initial per­

iod of the'Revolution» fearful of being identified with a movement that may soon be crushed. Very early in the story one

gets a true picture of our protagonist» when» upon seeing the

local police use brutality in order to disperse some protest­

ing students» he momentarily wants to sit down and write a =>11• "II' true story for thenewspaper for which he works»'but he soon

realizes his silly error:

Me puse a la mesa y escribi: "Gran escandalo provocado por la Policia. Ninos perseguidos y atacados como fascineros." Un impulso automatico adquirido en mis largos arios de reportero de "El Globo" me obligo a corregir prontamente el estupido encabezado. "Graves desordenes provocados por los estudiantes. La Policia obligada a tomar medidas de rigor para reprimirlos.,,4

After being denounced as a maderista by his boss» edi­

tor of El Globo, and finding himself surrounded by admirers,

he still does not show any signs of bravery. Not even the sar­

castic smile of don Octavio, true "maderista de conviccion»"5

who witnesses the tremendous ovation given "Coronel Andr~s

P~rez»" awakens him to the real significance of the movement.

Into the hands of such opportunists as these: Andr~s P~rez and

Colonel Hernandez -­ "ahora 'es general el coronel» por no poder

4Mariano Azuela» Andr~s P~rez» maderista (segunda ed~­ cion; M~xico: Ediciones Botas» 1945)>> p. 11.

5Englekirk and KiddIe» .Q.E.'. cit.» p,' xviii. 26 ser a1go mas" -- fall the fruits of the "Revo1ucion Triunfante."6

Azue1a has been able to record in his notes true, vivid pictures of actual events occurring during this critical per­ iod. His ever present concern for the disadvantaged is ex­ pressed:

Se oye un vocer!o por e1 rumbo del cuarte1 de los maderistas, 1uego un disparo ... una nueva des­ ~ carga cerrada hace retroceder a los curiosos que 'm • se dispersan. Las mujeres se refugian en los zag­ iii uanes, en las tiendas; pero en breve, puertas y ventanas se cierran con estrepito. 7

Scenes such as these show the confusion, hysteria and fear ex­ perienced by the innocent bystanders during the first year of the Revolution and, were scenes which were to be repeated throughout the course of the conflict.

Scenes of the brutality endured are quite a few in number. Almost anyone who protested was in danger of losing his life as was the case with Vicente, a foreman on the hacienda de Esperanza. His protest is voiced in the following words:

Mi patron sera muy 1eido y escribido; pero solo se decir1e que si estas tierras que sudaron mis parientes desde que nacieron no eran de e110s, mucho menos podian ser de ese coronel Hernandez que 11ego aqui de taparrabo y que hoy por hoy no 1e da por medio mi110n de pesos su capital. A esos 11amo yo 1adrones; e1 amo de1es e1 nombre que quiera. 8

6Ibid.

7Azue1a, Andres Perez, maderista, ~. cit., pp~ 113-114.

8 Ioid ., pp. 67-68. 27

Vicente is protesting Mexico's feudal land system, and, as a result of his protests, is brutally killed:

.•.El coronel se ha presentado exigiendo que se Ie reconozca como jefe de la fuerza. Vicente fue el primero en protestar con energra. Grito el coronel Hernandez y mas recio Ie respondio Vicente. Aquel amartilla su pistola y este con infinito desprecio Ie escupe la cara •.• el monstruo fascina con sus gritos salvajes a los infelices peones de Esperanza. Y a los propios hombres de Vicente les ordena que 10 desarmen, 10 aten y Ie formen caudro. Vicente cayS desplomado con los ojos que nacieron escalavos , escalavos todavra, escVlvos hasta morir eternamente esclavos!9

Azuela's pessimism has begun to grow and the horrible scene is indicative of many more to come in later novels of the terrible

Revolution.

Andres Perez had been a coward through most of the novel.

He was a!ways avoiding connection with any movement and denied anything of having actively participated in any action. But it began to bother his conscience later, especially after seeing some of the atrocities and the faith in some of the people. But what really made him decide to take an active part in a common cause was his own shame in comparing his attitude with that of the un­ fortunate Tono Reyes, dead in the first uprising that he, himself, had prepared and put into effect.

Azuela put all his disenchantment into this novel, with its theme of the audacity and cynicism,of the enemies of

the regime in the very process of destroying it. The work

initiated his series of novels written ,during and about the

9Ibid ., pp .114-115. 28

Revolution; this body of his writings is of the greatest lit­

erary significance in its originality of content and technique.

The insincerity of the government is notably expressed

in this first work on the Revolution as defined in the words

of Tono Reyes:

••• el gobierno s~ ha burlado no a5lo de esos made ris tas ingenu os y c onf iados t'se ha burlado I' de la naci5n entera. sanguinaria y perfidamente. Pero yo auguro que esa burla va a costarle cara. lO

He further attacks those hypocrites who take advantage

of the poor Indian:

El nombre es 10 de menos. El partido es el mismo: descendiente leg1timo de los enconmenderos enriquecidos con el sudor y la sangre del indio ••• ese partido que ahora no cree en Di5s porque Di5s ya no Ie sirve de nada; pero que si manana 10 necesita ira a buscarlo llenando las catedrales. Siempre el mismo con toda la turba famelica e insaciable de esta raza infeliz mexicana. ll

The course of· events enabled Azuela to see as never

before the degree and extent of caciguismo. A shadow of mis­

ery had spread over the country with Madero's supporters vic­

tims of brutal and vengeful deeds. Fearful members of the middle

class deserted the Revolution and made common cause with the

"arrogant caciguismo." The governoe of Jalisco t a true gentle­

man in Azuela's judgment t though he supported the usurper t

Huerta t was able to 'soften somewhat the excesses of the central

government.

lOIbid. t p. 21.

llIbid. t pp. 57-58. 29

Azuela himself was able to save several supporters of Madero from falling into the hands of Huerta's officials.

In these ciFcumstances, beset by uneasiness and anxiety,

Azuela wrote Los caciques. In the novel he directs his attack at the local despots who through greed and selfishness, used their power to promote their own interests at the expense

~ I of the rest of society. The somber tone found in the novel is as II I remote as possible from the raucous gaiety of Las moscas.

The stor~is laid two years eatlier, during the brief admin­ istration of the luckless Madero and the grim reactio~ of the sinister Huerta. The actio.n in Los caciques takes place in a I small western city which is dominated and virtually owned by a merchant-banker-Iandlord family of parasites, the del Llanos

(the caciques, or bosses), who had risen to power and affluence under Porfirio n1az and who now boggle at no measure, however low or violent, to maintain their privileges. Azuela makes no attempt to hide the bitterness of the victims of caciquismo.

Perhaps it is difficult for us at this point to accept the monstrosities of the del Llano family; the cynical priest,

Father Jermiah, and the cold-blooded don Ignacio; but Azuela is writing in white-hot anger against the cruelty and injustice of a system and uses the effective device of extreme caricature to point up his thesis.

The rest of the cast is treated gently. The grocer,

Juan Vinas, a kind of Mexican Poor Richard, his saintly wife, 30

Elena, and his two children, Juanito and Esperanza, victims of the system, are necessarily the opposites of the caciques.

The author here runs the risk of oversimplification, of draw­ ing a naive black-and-white picture, but he accepts the risk and through his art makes his picture plausible. He does so by employing the same technique that is so successful in Las moscas, by allowing his characters to portray themselves with all their human fai1ings. 12 He engages our sympathy even for the fatuous, childish, and pigheaded grocer, whose uninte11i­ gent loyalty to the caciques brings destruction down on him­ self and his family. Azuela is equally tender with don Timo­

teo, the fuzzy-minded freethinker, who is baffled by the sec­ ond-hand socialism he reads in his radical sheet. The meet­

ings of the revolutionary Twentieth of November Club are as

innocent as don Timoteo himself and are reported with the same

understanding deftness that makes the dialogue in the hospital

car of Las moscas alive and convincing.

The caciques of the D1az regime continued to be caci­

gues when Madero triumphed. They continued their domination

over the ignorant and poor, controlling things as before. Even

the people under domination did not know what was happening.

Don Timoteo, a "libera1~ protests but does not really know in

what his protests consist:

12Les1ey Byrd Simpson, "Preface," Two Novels ..Q..f Mexico: The Flies, The Bosses, translated from the Spanish, Mariano Azue1a (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1956), pp. ix-x. 31

Asesinos y ladrones llaman a los senores de la casa donde estas sirviendo, Mariquita, a los revolucionarios. Asi los llaman los caciques. Con razon, Mariquita, si esta revolucion es para los caciques cosa de vida 0 muerte. Has de saber que asi como a los frailes les llego un dia con Benito Juarez, a los caciques les ha llegado el suyo con Francisco I. Madero •.• LY quienes son, pues los caciques, don Timoteo? pregunta Mariquita. Lo oiste, Doloritas, iMariquita no sabe quienes son los caciquesl Lo , que yo predico a cada instante y momento: la .)' desgracia nacional esta en la ignorancia de nuestras masas ..•Los caciques, Mariquita, son ••. son la gente mas mala que hay en el mundo ••• son un o,~fl homb res muy malo s • • . son. . unosma1 v ados; . perb no, no se decirtelo bien; major voy a darte unos numeros de "El Pais" para que puedas formarte una ·idea de esos bribones ... 13

Even though don Timoteo doe. not know it, the del Llanos here are the caciques.

T1}e plot. is developed in the early years of the Revolu­ tion when, Juan Vinas, whose thinking is guided by that of the

Llano family, the gente de bien whose word is law, has labori­ ously saved, penny by penny, a sum sufficient to keep his family, consisting of dona Elena, whose characterization is another tribute to Mexican womanhood, Esperanza, and Juan­ ito, from economic want in his declining years. When advised by the lust-hungry Llanos to invest his savings in a business enterprise which they assure him will bring in better returns, he does so without inquiring into the obviously important mat­ ter of how much capital will be needed to build his model ten~- ment house. Only don Juan's wife and Rodriguez are skeptical about Juan's business venture.

l3Morton, ~. cit., pp. 46-47 32

As time goes by, Juan Vinas begins to discover that with the amount invested, he is unable to finance the project

by himself. He le~s the Llanos loan him money. In a short

while he finds it necessary to borrow more. This time don

Ignacio advances him funds against a mortgage on his grocery

store; these, too, fail to suffice. And now the caciques

!'I turn a deaf ear to Vinas' plea for further financial aid.

The construction stops because Vinas is unable to meet his

payments Un the loan, and the Llanos take all. Don Juan dies

of mortification and grief in the miserable shack that is his

new home on the outskirts o! the town. Esperanza and Juanito

find employment in the grocery store, "La Carolina," across

the street from the magnificent mansion being built by the

Llanos out of profits realized from the sale of their father's

store and his nearly completed "Vecindad Modelo." The anti­

huertistas sweep down upon the town, and in the general loot­

ing and pillaging that follow, Juanito and Esperanza seek as

their share of spoils nothing more than a can of oil with

which they set fire to the Llano home.

Don Ignacio was always making it appear as if he was

performing some act of charity, especially when there was a

good opportunity. For example, he took advantage of those

possessing grain by offering them only half the price of what

it was worth and later, at an opportu~e momen~, sold it on the

market at twice the price that he paid for it. And it never

seemed to fail to have someone in the offices explain to a . 33 client of certain procedure to be followed.

The burden of the narrative is carried by Rodriguez, the lonely poet and intellectual, and the only clear head among the small town radicals. He is the noblest of Azuela's creations. Half mad as he is, Rodriguez is a wonderfully attractive personality, with his despair over the human race and his pity for stray dogs and cats and all helpless crea­ tures. The love story of Rodriguez and Esperanza Vinas is heartbreaking :n its intensity. She fell in love with an old­ \. i';' " ' ,I" er man, bil~~ be'ause 1~'h.'ad the virtues of sympathy, tender­ \ , . ' • 'J1 :I nes~t·-An~under~t~~di~g. But he was feared by the caciques,

I and, as a result, estranged him from Esperanza~ father. Ro-

I driquez sees the inevitable catastrophe in store for himself and those he loves and ban do nothing to avert it, but he goes I to his brutal death defying his murderers.

The story builds up to a dramatic climax. Popular re­ vulsion at the murder of President Madero brings the Revolu­ tion to the del Llano's city. In the shooting and confusion, while the ch~ldren of the deceased Juan Vifias are burning the caciques' home, Juanito suddenly grows -up and sees with dead­ ly clarity the cause of his and his sister's tragedy. The new I building of del Llano .Bros., Inc., was the hated symbol of

their misfortunes.

In this novel Azue~a must have~een especially moved

~ in his creation of Rodrig~ez, Dncof tile finest characters in ~ his works. No longer young and with ~ittle to show in an econ­ 34 omic way for his native ability and clear thinking, Rodr1guez towers above all, both oppressors and oppressed, because of the thoroughly human virtues he possessed that serve to en­ hance his superior wisdom and courage.

Although Los caciques was written shortly after def­ inite steps had been taken to rid the country of local boss­ ism, and when land and labor reforms were being written into the constitution of 1917, the general tone of the novel is one of disillusionment and gloom. However, a gleam of hQpe f1ick­ ers upward with the flames of the burning dwelling of the caciques. Azue1a symbolically voiced hope that something good might come out of the bloody strife. 14

As Azue1a was writing the last chapter, several de­ tached groups of federal forces arrived in Lagos, bringing evidence of their defeat by Villa at Zacatecas (June, 1914).

The news of the victory over Huerta released the tensions under which he had been writing. The bloody struggle that would follow, in which he became involved, was not then ap­ parent. The stand Azue1a took in favor of the Party of the

Convention endangered him when a violent dispute, which broke out between two local factions, put him at the mercy of his enemies.

He soon becam~ active in the Revolution. General Me­ dina invited him to take part in forming a ~overnment for the

14Azue1a, Los ~ abajo,1££. cit. 35

State of Jalisco. He hesitated, but finally agreed. Perhaps his· desire to live among the revolutionaries who seemed to him excellent material for a novel influenced his decision, al­ though he had no idea then of the novel Los de abajo, which was to become his most famous work. Late in October, 1914, he joined Medina~s forces at Irapuato as chief medical officer,

.loll! in which capacity Azuela rendered the best service he could, while taking care to keep himself outside the quarrels and intrigues about him.

After Medina's forces moved to Guadalajara in December, the governor appointed Azuela Director of Public Instruction, a post he occupied only briefly, for soon the Carranza armies forced the villistas to evacuate. Azuela was carried along from defeat to defeat until one day he found himself in the

United States with a parcel of papers under his shirt. Two­ thirds of Los de abajo was written, and he finished the rest of it in the print shop of El Paso del Norte, the newspaper in which his novel was being published serially.

His experiences in that tangle of crime, tears, blood, pain, and desolation and his own sensitivity to them resulted in a novel in which the Rev~lution itself is the protagonist.

For he, himself, had lived in the mountains in the company of assassins and thieves, idealists and cynics. Vivid and real­ istic, with flash~s of poetic insight, the novel is the work of an observant man of acute sensibilities and a strong moral­

istic bent who had had rich opportunities to observe the Revo­ 36 lution at first hand. Episodic in form, the very structure of

Los de abajo reflects the scenes and events it relates. The course of the narrative illustrates the futility of destruc­ tion and violence.

In Los ~ abajo, Demetrio Macias, contented, humble

Indian of a little mountain village in Jalisco, incurs the enmity of the caciques of Moyahua, who denounce him to the

Federals as a maderista. Demetrio is forced to abandon his family and home and take to hiding. He knows nothing about the Revolution; what he does know is that, like many others who gather about him in his mountain hide-out, he is being hunted by men who are hirelings of the caciques and hacendados, men who have shot his dog and burned his thatched hut, and that capture means certain death. He expresses his complaint

to Luis Cervantes, an ex-medical student, in the follQwing words:

.•.Mire,antes de la revolucion tenia yo hasta mi tierra volteada para sembrar, y si no hubiera sido por el choque con don Monico, el cacique de Moyahua, a es~as horas andaria yo con mucha priesa, preparando layunta para las siembras ..• Pues con eso .ha habido para que me eche encima a la Federacion. Uste ha de saber del chisme ese de Mexico, donde mataron al senor Madero y a otro, a un tal Felix 0 Felipe Diaz, iqu~ se# yo .... , 15

Demetrio Macias had been proclaimed chief of a small

band and soon wins his first encounter with the Federals in a

deep ravine not far from his own land. Others soon flock to

15Ibid., pp. 35, 37. 37 join him. Among them is Cervantes, a smooth-tongued, oppor­ tunistic intellectual, who urges Demetrio to identify his cause with that of the great revolutionary leaders, Villa, Carranza, and Natera:

..•Usted no comprende todavra su verdadera, su alta y nobilrsima mision. Usted, hombre modesto y sin ambiciones, no quiere ver el importantrsimo papel que Ie teca en esta revolucion. Mintira que usted ande por aqur pro don Monico, el cacique; usted se ha levantado contra el caciquismo que asola toda la nacion. Somos elementos de un gran movimiento social que tiene que concluir por el agrandecimiento de nuestra patriae Somos instrumentos del destino para la reivindicacion de los sagrados derechos del pueblo. No peleamos por derrocar a un asesino miserable, sino contra la tiranra misma. Eso es 10 que se llama luchar por principios, tergr ideales. Por ellos estamos luchando nosotros.

Demetrio's rise is rapid; under Natera he becomes a colonel; after his daring action under Villa at Zacatecas, a general. Fighting, pillaging, killing,loving, and drinking, he and his men are swept along the path of the Revolution. It is their hour of triumph. But soon Carranza and Villa go sep­ arate ways. Villa is defeated at Celaya, and from that moment on Macras and his men are in retreat.

Demetrio no longer knows why they continue to fight.

One time he even returns home to see his family. His devoted wife, not understanding why he must return to fight, is shocked at the thought of seeipg Demetrio go off again. In spite

16Ibid., pp. 38-39. 38

of his long absence, Demetrio still longed to return home to his family. She pleads with him:

•..Hora sr, tbendito sea Dios que ya venistet tYa nunca nos dejaras! ~Verdad? bVerdad que ya te vas a quedar con nosotros? .•

Her pleading, more urgent now, continues:

tDemetrio, por Diost tYa no te vayas! tEl corazon

me avisa que ahora te va a suceder algo! .•• bPor que 'II pelean ya, Demetrio?17

Demetrio picks up a stone and throws it to the bottom of the

canyon. He thinks for a moment and says:

Mira esa piedra como ya no se para ••• 18

He is telling his wife that he no longer can stop fighting.

Thus Demetrio continues on. But he has barely left

when he and his men run into the enemy, almost in the exact

location in which they had tasted their first victory. The

following scene gives a vivid picture of raw violence that

was experienced in one of the many brutal and horrifying scenes

of the Revolution:

Demetrio derrama lagrimas de rabia y de dolor cuando Anastasio resbala lentamente de su caballo, sin exhalar una queja y se queda tendido, inmovil. Venancio cae a su lado, con el pecho horriblemente abierto por la ametralladora, y el Meco se desbarranca y rueda al fondo del abismo. De repente Demetrio se encuentra solo. Desmonta, arrastrase por las rocas hasta encontrai un parapeto, coloca una piedra que Ie defienda la cabeza a disparar. Demetrio apunta y no yerra un solo tiro: Paf •.• paf ••• paf. Su punterra famosa 10 llena de regocijo; donde pone el ojo pone una bala: se acaba

l7Arturo Torres-Rroseco, Grandee nove11stas de la Ame­ rica Hispana (Berkeley and Los Angeles:. University ·of· Cali­ fornia Press, 1941), p~ 11.

l8Ibid ., p. 12. 39

un cargador y mete otro nuevo. Yapunta.,,19

At-the foot of this enormous and magnificent hollow like the portico of an old cathedral, Demetrio Macias, his eyes fixed forever, continues sighting along the barrel of his rifle ...

Luis Cervantes has listened to many discussions and has written many editorials, and he believes that the day will ~ . come in which the Mexican proletarian will be able to enjoy his labors. And when that day comes there will not be any cacigues nor patrones. According to Cervantes, the duty of every Mexican is to fight for his country and his family against the tyranny of the caciques:

... se acaba la revolucion, y se acabo todo. ILastima de tanta vida segada, de tantas viudas y huerfanos, de tanta sangre vertidal Todo ipara que? Para que unos cuantos bribones se enriquezcan y todo quede igual 0 peor que antes. listed es desprendido y dice: "Yo no ambiciono mas que volver a mi tierra." Pero, ies de justicia privar a su mujer y a sus hijos de la fortuna ... ? iSera justo abandonar a la patria en estos momentos solemnes en que va a necesitar de toda la abnegacion de sus hijos los humildes para que la salven, para que no la dejen caer de nuevo en manos de sus eternos detentadores y verdugos, los caciques? •• 20

The largest part of the secondary characters in Los de

abajo are well studied. Demetrio's wife is kind and humble,

satisfied that she has a hu~band, and child, and a ranch. - But

when the soldiers burn their hut, all her traditional honor

appears and shouts at D~metrio: IMatalos! Camila and La Pin­

tada are soldaderas, those women who followed the soldiers

19Loc . .£i:1..

20Ibid ., p. 15. 40 sometimes, with their usual vices. Azuela knew such people as Anastasio, Pancracio, el Manteca, la Codorniz, and Venan­

cio:

Se distinguen en la carnicer!a Pancracio y el Manteca rematando a los heridos. Montanez deja caer su mano, rendida ya; ... en su impasible rostro brillan la inge~yidad del nino y la amoralidad del chacal.

Azuela had a wealth of material from which to draw.

One of the most picturesque and sadly mocking situations he

obs erved fas the sh ift"s in fort une 0 f r ivaI f ac t ions as one,

and then the other, acquired or lost power. Las moscas gives

a clear account of the events following Villa's defeat at Ce­ I laya when the hordes of bureaucrats and their families, dis­

possessed by that event, follow in disorderly fashion after

the military forces on whom their positions depend.

The action begins during a panic in a railway station

of Mexico City. Politicians, government clerks, generals and

officers of the old federal army (the cynical "ex-federals" of

the story), doctors, teachers, women of easy virtue, and

ladies of shaky respectability, all those, in brief, who had

short-sightedly thrown in with Villa, are striving desperate­

ly to escape their imagined death at the hands of Obregon's

Yaqui Indian troops, who enjoyed a well-earned reputation for

ferocity. The frightened refugees crowd into a hospital car,

where throughout the night we listen to their wild surmises.

21 . "" Ib~d., pp. 18-19. 41

Azue1a's style in this story is admirably suited to suggest the jerky movement of the train, the nervousness of the fugitives, their naked fear. The choppy, fragmentary dia­ logue, the drunkenness, the prodigious silliness of the fright­ ened mother and her gold-digging family, together give us an etching of civil war no~ easily forgotto~. ~ Marta, the mother of the Reyes-Tellez family group, is well drawn. She may well be the only protagonist in the story.

The good, Christian mother performs heroic efforts to save her children from the catastrophe that befell their home. Although she worries about her children to excess, she somehow manages to wichstand the anxieties encountered during the train ride.

She represents the moral support of the generation of parents who had lived in the peaceful era of D1az, and who now are try­ ing to save their loved ones in the middle of the sea of violent events.

Las tribu1aciones de ~ familia decente completed the cycle of novels of the Revolution. It was published in 1918, which was a fruitful year for Azue1a. In it he sought to de­ pict the impact of that struggle on people of property and to show their varying responses to the moral and social issues in­ vo1ved. Therefore, the novel stands as a valuable social doc­ ument as well as an imaginative work of considerable power.

Its literary worth lies in the high degree of dramatic tension

it achieves in depicting the conflict between obtuse and mater­

ia1isticpersons who seek selfish advantage, as was the case 42 in Pascual, the perfect hypocrite, husband of the eldest daugh­ ter of the Vazquez Prado family, Berta. She comprehends her husband's true character, staking her virtue to aid him in his rise to power:

El cielo se puso sordo de repente. Don Ulpiano la asia fuertemente por sus exangues brazos. IPascual! - gimio ella. Un gemido ahogado. Le tenia miedo a Pascual y se tenia miedo a si misma. Pero Pascual, envuelto en el humo gris de su puro, cerrados los ojos, dormia un sueno pesado de ebriedad. 22 .

Besides creating Pascual, the son-in-law, for the pur­ pose of excoriating those who are grasping and selfish, power hungry, and oblivious to the sufferings of others, Azuela has also included the ,mother of Berta, and the sons. Cesar, the youngest son in the family, describes his father, Procopio, in this way:

Acerca de la sonrisa de Procopio estan divididos los pareceres en casa. Lulu, mi hermana menor, aprueba con entusiasmo· esta opinion que es la de su novio: "No hay risa que revele mas inteligencia y corazon mas noble que la risa de Procopio."23 .

Through the father, Procopio, and one of the daughters, Lulu,

Azuela develops his theme of spiritual regeneration through suffering.

Cesar goes on and describes his mother, Agustinita,

Berta, Francisco Jose and his brother-in-law Pascual in the following manner:

22Azuela, Las tribulaciones de una familia decente, -­ ---­ £.E... cit., p. 107.

23Ibid'., p. 3S. 43

Pero Agustinita, Berta, Jose, y mi cunado Pascual 10 entienden de otra manera. Francisco Jose, por ejemplo, dice: "Cuando yo r10, cuando r1en ustedes, cuando todos re1mos, para nadie es un enigma el motivo de nuestra alegr1a. La risa de papa es a menudo risa de un solo, de uno solo, de dos a 10 mas."24

Azuela is portraying Procopio and Lulu as sensitive indivi­ duals who, in troubled times, find the inner strength to face disaster courageously. Azuela's warmth of spirit, affection

for the simple life, and moral fervor are essential ingred­

ients of his work. The son-in-law Pascual, on the other hand, portrays the author's scorn for the corrupt elements in Car­

ranza's government and for the men who robbed and killed like

the bandits of old but who covered their rapacity and cruelty with the cloak of respectability. Azuela!s indictment did not

stem from a lack of patriotism, but rather from a deep sense

of loyalty and from a deep love of country. It was his view

that hope for betterment lay in facing the situation and rec­

ognizing its reality, not in ignoring itor glossing it over.

Followers of Huerta who had recently gone north, haugh­

ty, proud, spouting boasts, satisfied and insolent, had begun

to straggle back to the south after defeat by thevillistas.

The prQpertied class, fearing revenge at the hands of the op­

pressed poor, flocked in panic to the cities in their search

for anonymity.

They regarded the crisis as temporary, hoping that some

24Loc . cit. 44 leader would gain power and restore their property and privi­ leges. Overwhelmed by the harsh and bitter realities of the ensuing years, many of them descended through successive stages of suffering and hardship. Numerous members of the formerly privileged class failed to meet the test imposed by the Revo­ lution, but some discovered in it their "realization as men," finding regeneration in undertaking simple tasks, and ultimate­ ly achieving respectable positions earned by their own efforts.

Azuela saw them in striking contrast to the crowd of grasping selfseekers suddenly in possession of power and riches.

Although the novel is based mainly on distressing events, it ends,nevertheless,overflowing with hope and happiness. This is laid in the final scene in the deathbed of Procopio:

Aquella cara de asceta, enjuta y amarilla, aquellos ojos oscuros donde acababa de arder intensa llama espiritual, aquella cabeza nimbada de canas hundiase dulcemente en albos y blandos cojines ..•Entonces se dibuj9 en los labios del difunto aquel pliegue que Ie era habitual y brillo un instante mas su sonrisa de bondad y suave ironia. Cuando Archibaldo volio su mirada en torno, solo Lulu Ie acompanaba •.. levantaba la frente, abiertos los ojos al cielo: unos ojos grandes, inmensos, como el universo. 25

Azuela observes that, though men had to face in those times the cruelty and destructiveness of suffe~ing, in some there glim­ mered a spark of energy that could revivify them with unex­ pee ted force. Procopio, like the characters in other novels who similarly serve as Azuela's alter ego, is the idealist and intellectual who, though a victim of the evil about him, brave­

25Ibid., p. 154. 45

1y confronts and comes to grips with his problems instead of suc~umbing to disillusionment.

The first part of the novel is autobiographical, told by Cesar, "hijo de su mama," whose death brings his story to a close. Cesar, anything but a "Caesar," is the cowardly, weak, effeminate, spineless, and pitiful offspring of a too long pampered, degenerate social class.

Procopio, the protagonist, father of this "familia de­ cente," goes out and works as a cashier when he can no longer stand to hear his wife complaining. She thinks that it is not right for a family of their social status to have to go out and work like common people to earn their daily bread as an unimportant employee. But Procopio has seen the light and is de termined to bean examp1e to hi s family of the real i ties of life, that the people of the middle class would have to en­ dure some suffering, that they would have to face their prob­ lema brave1y~ This thought can be observed in Procopio's following statement:

Pues ya veras 10 que ocurri5, Archiba1do. Despues de aque11a noche tormentosa cuando tG me sa1vaste 1a vida, me senti otro. Sobria, dignidad, medio, zozobra: todo se acab5. Pero tG puedes imaginarte .1as tremendas 1uchas prodecesoras a mi def­ initiva reso1uci5n •. IQue difici1 es despojarse del ma1dito orgu110 que arraiga tan hondo en quien ha tenido dinero a1guna vaz! .•. Quiza sin 1a crisis tan tremenda que tuve que atravesar, no me hubiese atrevido nunca. Era precisoun g~lpe de tal magnitud para.despertarme. Solicitar e1 destino, previa 1a confesion del dolor, de 1a humi11aci5n de una familia en 1a miseria, en 1a run1a. .•• 26

26Ibid., p. 133. CHAPTER V

POST-REVOLUTIONARY MEXICO

Azuela paints us a somber picture of post-Revolution­ ary society, more corrupt and more degenerate than before, for the Revolution has unleashed new forces of evil that until this time had been held in check. In this sense, then, Azuela is the one writer best qualified to be called the "novelist of the Revo­ lution," for he is the novelist not only of the more tragic and sensational movement, the bloody years from 1910 to 1917, but also of the more vital and more significant movement, the social revolution that is still going on and of which the earlier one was but an episode. Azue1a was to follow it with the same keen interest and penetration with which he observed and studied the chaotic years out of which the movement for social reform grew. Five years were to pass, however, before he gave us his first picture of Mexico.

Joining the staff of the Consu1torio No. III, a public clinic in Mexico City in 1922, again he came into intimate con­ tact with the tragic life of the ppor, misunderstood and maligned by those who were best able to help them: the courts and the medical profession. His severe criticism is present in the novel, La ma1hora, published in 1923. Briefly, it is the story of a girl of fifteen, abandoned by Marcelo and soon the easy prey of vice and sin. Her father is killed by her former lover, who is now enamored with La Tapat!a. Marcelo and La o Tapat!a attempt to rid themselves of La malhora, lest she de­ 47 nounce them. And Epigmenio, a former suitor of La Tapat!a, is killed, but La malhora, although gravely wounded, is saved by a "santo medico" and is physically and spiritually healed in the service of three overdevout women of Irapuato. She is now known as Altagracia. But hereditary forces surge again with­ in her, and she reverts to her former life of sin. Uncons­ ciously she knows what is troubling her, but others do not, and by them she is reviled~ At last her vision clears, and she purge' her hate in blood by killing La Tapat!a, "la in­ cognita de su destino despejada ·al fin."

In general, it is a. picture of proletarian life in I Mexico. It is a vigorous satire directed at the capitalist

society. It shows us, among other things, the dogmatic activ­

ity of the judges of the courts, and also, h~re, as every­ where else, ridicules t~e ignorance on the part of the ~edical

profession. The life of Altagracia proves that it is useless

to rebel against .destiny, and ~lthough the poor creature goes

to confession and receives communion for years, primitive for­

ces still drive her to vice and sin.

In another novel of postwar Mexico, San Gabriel de

Valdivias (Comunidad indigena). published in 1938, we are pre­

sented with the theme of the apparent impossibility and the

consequential despair that·a small town can have a sincere man.

The peones struggle with the l!der, who promises them honesty

and betterment, and in the end, find themselves worse off th~n 48 before. They have lost all hope.

San Gabriel de Valdivias had formerly been the ha­ cienda of don Carlos and his son Arturo, reactionary, land­ holding caciques, and now is a modern agrarian colony, product of the Revolution; but in name only, for the conditions are as bad as or worse than before. It is true that it is now known as Comunidad Quintana and that the hacendados no longer enrich themselves on peon land and toil, but Quintana is the name of a new type of tyrant, the revolutionary lider, under whom the \1 r· ~ ,h·-, old hacendado 8 Tstem l~~~rishes as never before. Only the old .I I ~. ~ " ... 1/ \0 man ~D_~t:!1g._§..o CampJ~. ha~ courage enough to growl his eternal discontent: "la misma j'eringa con otro palo."l I As is pictured in these last two novels, it is Azuela's i feeling, that in spite ~f the bloody struggle and postwar re'"

I forms, the condition in ~exico had not changed much, some did, of course, abide by the reforms and changes, but it is apparent

that many people in a position to profit, personally, continued

to do so afterwards. Only the names and titles changed but the oppression of the poor and humble people continued to exist. I

. I

lMariano Azuela, ~ Gab riel de:' Valdivias Comunidad ind[gena (Santiago de Chile: Edicione~ Ercilla, 1938)~ p. 140. \ I I 1. CONCLUSIONS

In reading the works of Azuela, one can feel his true spirit, that of great concern for his people. He has shown us clear, vivid pictures of the mannerisms and customs of the peo­ p1e, particularly of those who practiced immoral injustices.

As a result of these injustices, the poor people were the ones who felt the pain and suffering.

The picture that Azue1a has given us of the Revolution, is of scenes of the struggle, many of which were written from his own E\xp.eri, ,nces w' i;],e serving in the army as a medical doc­ to,\ Doni/Mad" ~o was'(~Ikind of saint. sometimes a skeptical

'. ---- _.__ I" ,. _ _ .... and severe saint, ~s seen in some of his works, but full of I charity for his peop1e'lwhose weaknesses he saw, as he saw his own, clear-eyed and unftinching.

I No one seems fur1:her removed from the violent scenes I

of his most powerful novel, ~ de abajo, than Mariano Azue1a himself. Down from the north whirled the men of Pancho Villa,

assassination, civil war; hate versus hate. Demetrio Macras,

hero of Los ~ abajo is painted. as an illiterate rancher, sa­

loon brawler', assassin of unjust officials, outlaw with nerves of iron, surefooted, lover of battle and cold steel, madly

brave, cru.~, but filled ~ith a measure of fairplay, a man who

never forgets a kindness and never forgets an injury.

Azue1a condemns the brutality practiced during the .4. Revolution and deeply sy~path(ze~ wit~ those that are injured. I I . \ He fe~ls that the futi1i~y of destruc(ion and violence has 50 made man lose his true virtues and ideals. In spite of the

Revolution, however, Demetrio Macias still finds himself think­ ing of his ranch, his yoke of oxen, his wife, of the fields on his ranch to be planted, a feeling so strong that on one oc­ casion he sets out on a terrific three days journey to see his wife and his old haunts. But Luis Cervantes by now had given

Demetrio a reason, a mission, a goal, an ideal; and at the same time tries to corrupt him with gold, for which Demetrio does not have the slightest use. He is merely a blind agent, the weathered leaf. He is the stone, which he tosses into the abyss shortly before his death; it is powerless to stay its flight.

And his story is the story of his kind, of those who, because of the ruthlessness of the Diaz regime, were tossed into the arena of rebellion, forced to fight, without ever really know­ ing why they were there, yet swept on and on ever faster.

The biggest fault of the revolutionaries, in Azuela's judgment, lay in their killing the best in themselves, forget­ ting their humble orig£ns and the simple habits they had formed in poverty and even in misery, and then succumbing to the seductions of power and money. Azuela believed th~t pursuit of the .simple life would cure the worst ills of the times with­ out "blood or tears." Although Azuela was pessimistic, this did not mean that he held no hope. for the future, because he has demonstrated in his works, that there are good men, and. that they are capable of lifting themselves up £rom their suffer~ng 51 and misery, to work for a common cause. And he hopes that the injustices suffered will be eliminated and replaced by ideas and ideals.

The picture of the twenties that Azuela paints for us is, if anything, more revolting and more somber than those of the war years. As Azu~!a puts it: "Porque entonces yo no cono­ c1a a sus emulos, los civilizados-- Carranza, Obregon, Calles y

C1a. Francisco Villa, fuerza ciega de la revolucion estuvo siempre en su sitio. Mato mucho y aun con sus propias manos.

Pero nunca fue el cobarde palido criminal que dice 'mato en nombre de las Instituciones, mato en defensa de mi dredo filo­ sofico' ."

Those who read his novels see that his themes are broad. Actually, questions of a sociological and economic na­

ture, and problems of human conduct, attract much more than the

specialized matter of the Revolution. For he is man thinking

about Mexico. His own emotions are often involved, and one is

always aware of the high mission of the writer: yet he writes

always as the objective manipulator of tools, working something

out.

Azuela was oriented as was no other writer of our time

in the complex life of the Mexican people; and his receptive­

ness and his highly personal combination of literary resources·

give a great deal of his work an artistic status which prom­

ises permanence. XH dV1W 0 1 'HI HI BIBLIOGRAPHY

A. PRIMARY REFERENCES

Azue1a, Hariano. Andres Perez, maderista. 2a edicion. Mexico: Edicion Botas, 1945. 202 pp.

Cien anos de nove1a mexicana. Primera edicion. Mexico: Ediciones Botas, 1947. 226 pp.

Las moscas. Mexico: Ediciones Rayon, 1931. 196 pp.

Las tribu1acio~les de una familia decente. ~edicion. Mexic~ ~iciones Botas, 1947. 288 pp.

Los caciques. Mexico: Ediciones Rayon, 1931. 177 pp.

Los ~ J!bajo. 3a edic.ion. Mexico: Ediciones Botas, 1949. 260 pp.

Los fracasados. 4a edicion. Mexico: Ediciones Botas, 1939. 249 pp.

Mala ~ba. 4a edicion. Mexico: Ediciones Botas, 1945. 266 pp.

Maria Luisa y otros cuentos. 2a edicion. Mexico: Ediciones Botas, 1938. 237 pp.

Sin amor. 2a edicion. Mexico: Ediciones Botas, 1945. 212 pp.

Obras comp1etas ~ Mariano Azue1a. Vol. I. Primera edicion. Mexico: Fondo de Cu1tura Economica, 1958. 1226 pp.

Obras comp1etas ~ Mariano Azue1a. Vol. II. Primera edicion. Mexico: Fondo de Cu1tura Economica, 1958. 1131 pp.

B. SECONDARY REFERENCES

Gonzalez de Mendoza, J. M. "Pro1ogo a ~ yerb a." Mexico" Ediciones Botas, 1945. pp. 7-13 Contains a review of all of Azue1a's works as is their literary value. 54

Jimenez Rueda, Julio. Historia --de la literatura mexicana. 4a edicion. Mexico: Ediciones Botas, 1946. 387 pp.

Luckey, Robert E. "Mariano Azuela," Books Abroad, Norman, Oklahoma, Autumn, 1953. p. 370.

Morton, Rand F. La novela de la revolucion mexicana. Mexico: Editorial Cultura, 1949. 358 pp. Contains a review of the revolutionary novel and the part that Azuela plays in it.

Spell, Jefferson Rea. Contemporary Spanish American Fiction. Chapel Hill: University of No. Carolina tress, 1944. pp. 64-100. ~laces Azuela as one of the best comtemporary authors of Latin America.

Torres-Rioseco, Arturo. La gran literatura iberoamericana. Buenos Aires: E;;ce Editores, S. A., 1951. 337 pp. It speaks about the place deserving of Azuela among the iberoamericanos.

Torres-Rioseco, Arturo. Grandes novelistas de la america hispana. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1941. Pp. 76, 94, 112. Mentions Azuela briefly as one who has tried to interpret individual and sociological conflicts.

C. TERCIARY REFERENCES

Azuela, Salvador. "Vida y pensamiento de Mariano Azuela," Excelsior (Mexico), 6 de marzo de 1952.

Dulsey, Bernard M. "Mariano Azuela," Modern Language Journal, XXXVI (November, 1952l

Gait~n, Fernando H. "Fallecio don Mariano Azuela," Novedades (Mexico), 2 -de marzo de 1952.

Gallegos, Abraham. "El lenguaje popular en las novelas de Mariano Azuela." Tesis, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Mexico, 1950.

Holmes, Henry A. "A 7eatime Ghat with Mariano Azuela in Mexico City," Hispana, XXIX (November, 1946).

Moore, Ernest. "The Novel of the Mexican Revolution," Mexican Life, XVI (j~lio, 1949).